If Trump Wants to Fix Infrastructure, He Has to Learn From These Projects
Rethinking outdated ideas for the 21st Century
President-elect Donald Trump wants to update America’s crumbling infrastructure. While it remains to be seen how he will finance his ambitious building spree, there is great potential for innovation beyond the (very necessary) repair of highways, bridges, tunnels, utilities, and rail lines, most of which were built more than half a century ago. The best projects are more than practical, they're versatile amenities that reinvigorate communities. The more congested cities become, and the further their inhabitants retreat into their bubbles, the more important these connective civic spaces become. Here are some examples that hit the mark.
Michael Maltzan Architecture01Sixth Street Viaduct, Los Angeles, Michael Maltzan and HNTB
This radical replacement of a cherished landmark combines undulating concrete arches with roads, footpaths and bike paths, an amphitheater, a park, and spaces for artists and fabricators. Maltzan, who has long studied transforming infrastructure, favors retrofitting the Ventura Freeway with photovoltaic fields and a rainwater collection system.
OMA+OLIN0211th Street Bridge Park, Washington DC, OMA + OLIN
This ambitious project spans the Anacostia River on the 11th Street Bridge piers. The multipurpose park, built atop boldly intersecting concrete slabs, will feature plazas, gardens, cafes, urban farms, a sculpture park, an amphitheater, lookouts, boat launches, and an environmental education center.
Tom Arban03Underpass Park, Toronto, PFS Studio
Underpass Park transformed derelict and unused space beneath several overpasses into a network of parks, trails, skateboarding ramps, and public art. Landscaping, street furniture, and futuristic lighting creates a welcoming area in a part of town that was once overgrown and uninviting. A city plan called the Bentway will transform more than 400 acres of underused land beneath the Gardiner Expressway into trails, green spaces, art exhibitions, and education.
Melendrez04Space 134, Los Angeles, Melendrez
Los Angeles is covered in freeways, and there is a growing movement to cap them with green spaces, essentially turning highways into tunnels topped by parks. Seattle, Phoenix, Dallas, and Boston are among the cities that have done this. Los Angeles may be next. Space 134 would cover Ventura Freeway through the city of Glendale with 25 acres of green space, public art, footpaths, and other amenities. People have similar ideas for stretches of Highway 101 through Hollywood and downtown LA.
Scott Shigley05The 606, Chicago, Michael Van Valkenberg and Collins Engineers
Abandoned rail lines are a natural place for parks, an idea that gave rise to the "rails to trails" movement. The 606, built on what was the Bloomingdale Line, knits together several neighborhoods north of downtown, including Logan Square, Palmer Square, Humboldt Park, Bucktown, and Wicker Park. Public art, creative landscapes, and other amenities provide an engaging way to explore Chicago beyond the loop. Eye-catching industrial-inspired street furniture, light posts, and overpasses enliven the space.
James Corner Field Operations06The Underline, Miami, James Corner Field Operations
The High Line made a beautiful park out of an abandoned elevated railway in Manhattan. Now its lead designer is riffing on that idea in Miami, using a 10-mile strip of land beneath the city monorail. Colorful landscaped spaces will use public art to invigorate the area, including glowing light fields, abstract sculptures, and patterned and textured steps and benches.
Perkins + Will07The Beltline, Atlanta, Perkins + Will
The Belt Line, which started with Ryan Gravel’s masters thesis at Georgia Tech, is a multi-use trail on a former railroad corridor winding through the city. Amenities include walking, running and bike trails, public art, park space, and direct connections to an ever-growing group of stores and restaurants. The east side---extending through Virginia Highland, Inman Park, and other neighborhoods---is complete. The city is working on additions that will extend to the south and west, with the goal of creating a 22-mile loop.
BIG08Big U, New York, Bjarke Ingels Group
The inevitable rising tides brought by global climate change have architecture and engineering firms around the world developing ways to protect cities. New York's Big U is among the most ambitious. [The Big U](https://www.wired.com/2014/06/a-335m-project-to-save-nyc-from-climate-catastrophe/) will be an 8-mile-long porous "sponge" disguised as parks and open spaces that would protect the city against storm surges and floods. The team has just been named to design (with AECOM) the project’s second phase, the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency project, revealing bold plans that will transform the city’s edges for both recreation and resiliency.
James Ewing09The Bay Lights, San Francisco, Leo Villarreal
This computer-controlled light sculpture consists of about 25,000 LEDs, installed along roughly 2 miles of the Oakland-Bay Bridge's cables. Its mesmerizing, dancing patterns have captivated residents and inspired similar bridge installations in New York, London, and elsewhere. Although meant to be temporary, the installation became permanent this year.
Christopher Woodcock10Proxy, San Francisco, Envelope A+D
Sometimes the best infrastructure is no infrastructure. After the Loma Prieta earthquake, San Francisco tore the remains of Embarcadero Freeway, reinvigorating the Hayes Valley neighborhood it once divided. It took a great many years, but the area no features new buildings, lush parks, and Proxy---a "village" of repurposed shipping containers that house food stands, retail spaces, and art studios. New York, Boston, New Haven, Connecticut are among other cities that have swapped freeways for greenways.
ALBERT VECERKA11Spring Street Salt Shed, New York, Dattner in association with WXY
No city can function during in the dead of winter without salt, but whoever heard of a salt warehouse that wasn't ugly and industrial? The sculptural, crystalline Spring Street Salt Shed in New York City, challenges the definition of utilitarian architecture.
Christian Aslund/Getty Images12Stockholm Subways
While there are countless examples of innovative subway design, Stockholm does it exceptionally well. Art and tunnel seamlessly merge in a beautiful palette of color and form. Vera Nilsson and Siri Derkert created the first underground works more than 50 years ago, and the city has commissioned dozens of other artists to create surreal underworlds.
